As I peruse other blogs, I see some pretty neat things.  I came across digital scrapbook pages and thought I'd give it a whirl.

This scrapbook page was designed by Raspberry Road Designs.  The photo is of Joseph CAHILL and Jean Marie MILLER taken on their wedding day on 28 October 1967; privately held by Julie Marie CAHILL Tarr.

Continued from I Heard it in the News - Part 2

This last one involves my great-grandmother Catherine SCHWARTZ Cahill, who took her life in January 1925, in Aurora, Kane, Illinois.

"Feared Loss of Her Children, Takes Her Life," 27 January 1925, from unidentified newspaper; privately held by Julie Marie CAHILL Tarr.

The 57th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is hosted by Jasia at her blog Creative Gene.

The 11th Edition of Central & Eastern European Genealogy Carnival is being hosted by Steve Danko over at Steve's Genealogy Blog.  The theme is given names and Steve has listed some possible topics to discuss as follows:

Did any of your ancestors have an unusual given name?

Have you discovered the meanings behind the given names of your ancestors?

Did your ancestors use any naming patterns for their children?

Are there any given names that are particular common in your family history?

Did any of your ancestors have given names that you particularly like or dislike?

Does your family celebrate "Name Days"?

Did your immigrant ancestors change their given names after they arrived in America?

Tell us about the first (given) names in your family. You can concentrate on one name, a few names, or you can go wild and write about the first names of all your ancestors!"

Naming Patterns

One thing I always found odd was my paternal grandmother's middle name (or second given name to stay true to the theme if the carnival *wink*).  As the first born child, her middle name was Garrison, which was her mother's maiden name.  As I look through both sides of her family, I see this pattern, although not strict.  In many cases, the first born child received either the mother's maiden name or the father's, mother's maiden name (the second born usually got the other).  In a few cases, a child took the mother's, mother's maiden name.  So for example, my fourth-great-grandfather Calvin Price WEBSTER was the second born and Price was his father's, mother's maiden name (Rachel PRICE).  Calvin's brother, Luther Norton WEBSTER, was the first born and took his mother's maiden name (Sarah NORTON) as his middle name.  Again, it's not consistent by any means, but it it helpful to know this to determine possible middle names and/or maiden names for others in these lines.  For example, my second-great-granduncle, Edward P MULLIGAN could be Edward Parks for his mother's mother's maiden name, or, his father's, mother's maiden name could start with a P.

My immediate family has a small pattern that started with my paternal grandparents, John "Jack" Francis CAHILL and Joan Garrison McMAHON.  Their only son (my dad) was named Joseph, who married Jean Marie MILLER, and had me (their only child) Julie.  I followed suit and married James, and if we have children, we'll follow along with the Js.

Popular Names

Looking at the list of over 6,600 individuals in my database, I have many clusters of common names such as Ann/Anne/Anna, Mary/Marie/Maria/Marilyn/Marion, John, James, Henry, Charles, David, Dorothy, Lydia, Margaret/Margery/Marge/Marguerite, Richard, Robert, Samuel, Sarah/Sara, Susan/Susanna/Susannah/Suzanne, Thomas, Warren, and William.  This include both of my lines, as well as my husband's and my step-father.

On the Cahill side the most popular female name is Mary/Maria/Marie/Marion (162/15/7/15 respectively).  The most popular male name is John, with 179 (William follows closely with 166).

On the Miller side the most popular female name is Anna/Ann (19).  The most popular male name is Henry (14).

Unique Names

My grandaunt has a unique name (one of my favorites), Marcella.  It's unique to the family because so far, it's the only one, but additionally, because its origin is Italian [1].  To my knowledge, there are no Italians in that family line.

I also have many names that are unique in terms of today's common names, but not necessarily unique to their time periods.

• Solomon NORTON (my sixth-great-grandfather, born in the mid 1700s) - Solomon means "peace." [2]
  
• Mehitabel GRAVES (my ninth-great-grandmother, born in the late 1600s) - Mehitabel is a variant of Mehetabel, which means "God makes happy." [3,4]
  
• Hulda WACH (my second-great-grandmother, born in 1869) - Hulda means "sweet, loveable." [5]
  
• Emil Charles MILLER (great-grandfather, born in 1889) - Emil means "rival." [6]
  
• Dorcas HOPKINS (my ninth-great-grandmother, born in the mid to late 1600s) - Dorcas means "gazelle." [7]

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Notes

All information, with the exception of those noted, derived from my personal GEDCOM family tree file (created by Julie Marie CAHILL Tarr, accessed 20 September 2008; privately held by Julie Marie CAHILL Tarr, Normal, Illinois)

1.  "Marcella," Behind the Name (http://www.behindthename.com/name/marcella), accessed 20 September 2008.

2.  "Solomon," Behind the Name (http://www.behindthename.com/name/solomon), accessed 20 September 2008.

3.  "Mehitabel," Behind the Name (http://www.behindthename.com/name/mehitabel), accessed 20 September 2008.

4.  "Mehetabel," Behind the Name (http://www.behindthename.com/name/mehetabel), accessed 20 September 2008.

5.  "Hulda," Behinf the Name (http://www.behindthename.com/php/search.php?nmd=n&terms=hulda), accessed 20 September 2008.

6.  "Emil," Behind the Name (http://www.behindthename.com/name/emil), accessed 20 September 2008.

7.  "Dorcas," Behind the Name (http://www.behindthename.com/name/dorcas), accessed 20 September 2008.

Polly Ann WEBSTER - is my 3rd great-grandaunt.  According to family documents, she was born on 15 September 1830 in Michigan and died on 12 March 1910 in Michigan.  I actually have a letter somewhere written by her (to her sister Sarah, I think, can't remember for sure) that I hope to transcribed sometime soon.

John Francis CAHILL - My paternal grandfather, John, was born on 12 June 1922 in Aurora, Illinois.  He died when I was seven-years-old on September 16, 1984.  Much of my research lately has been focused on him and his time in WWII.  [1]

Charles STOFFEL - According to my grandmother's handwritten notes, Charles, my great-great-grandfather was born on 16 September 1855 in Frankfort, Germany.

Elmer W F TRAPP - Elmer was my 2nd cousin twice removed.  He was born on 7 August 1919 in Cook County, Illinois.  He died on 17 September 1968.  [2]

James Norton GARRISON - According to family documents, my great-granduncle, James, was born on 19 September 1895 in Canada.

Clarence L ROTTMAN - Clarence is my 1st cousin twice removed.  He was born on 20 September 1896 in Iowa.  He was 89 years-young when he died on 6 November 1985 in Iowa.  [3]

Ethel Mary ROTTMAN & George W COSTER - Ethel was my 1st cousin twice removed.  She married George on 21 September 1920 in Iowa.  [4]  Oddly enough, Ethel was the sister of Clarence (above), who married Margaret Alma COSTER, George's sister.

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Notes

1.  State of Illinois, death certificate no. not indicated (1984), John F CAHILL, State of Illinois Department of Public Health. 

2.  Memorial card for Elmer TRAPP, October 1968; privately held by Julie Marie CAHILL Tarr. 

3.  Memorial card for Clarence L ROTTMAN, November 1985; privately held by Julie Marie CAHILL Tarr. 

4.  Obituary for Ethel Mary ROTTMAN Coster, 19 November 1986, from Cedard Rapids Gazette (Cedard Rapids, Iowa); privately held by Julie Marie CAHILL Tarr.

James MULLIGAN Sr.

James MULLIGAN Sr. was born on 7 December 1812 in Ireland.  He is my 3rd great-grandfather, who married Sarah Norton WEBSTER on 5 November 1865 in Michigan (therein lies my connection to the famed Websters).  On 8 September 1879 he passed away in Michigan at the age of 66. [1]

Lawrence Henry "Turk" COMERFORD

"Uncle Turk" was born on 9 November 1916 in Illinois.  He married my grandaunt, Margaret ROTTMAN, on 22 July 1940 in Illinois.  Lawrence died on 9 September 1970 in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of 53. [2,3,4]

Michael BELLUOMINI

It's my step-brother's birthday this week!

Julie Marie CAHILL & James Christopher TARR

It's our 5th wedding anniversary this week!!!

Citations

1.  Cahill Family Tree document, compiled by Joseph CAHILL, ca. between 1965-1982; privately held by Julie Marie CAHILL Tarr.  Note:  Data not 100% verified at this time.

2.  Memorial card for Lawrence Henry COMERFORD (1970); privately held by Julie Marie CAHILL Tarr.

3.  Obituary for Lawrence Henry COMERFORD, undated clipping, ca. September 1970, from unidentified newspaper; privately held by Julie Marie CAHILL Tarr. 

4.  "Cook County, Illinois Marriage Index, 1930-1960," database, Ancestry.com, Margaret Rottman & Lawrence Comerford.

The theme for the 55th Edition of the Carnival of Genealogy is Show & Tell.  I've been doing some digging into my paternal grandfather, specifically his time overseas during WWII, so I thought it appropriate to "show" some of these WWII artifacts and "tell" a complementary story.  This story is by no means complete.  I have much more digging and uprooting to do, but I wanted to share what I have so far.  Enjoy!

John Francis CAHILL (1922-1984)

The back-to-school edition of the Carnival of Irish Heritage & Culture is upon us. The challange, as I understand it, is to make a research plan related to our Irish roots. The Irish side of my family is one I have not spent much time on lately, due in part to a brick wall with my ggg-grandparents. That being said, I fully accept the challange to make a plan, and of course, follow through on it in the months to come. So...here's the plan...

Goal #1 - Figure out where in the heck my ggg-grandparents were born in Ireland. I am fairly certain that my gg-grandfather, Thomas Robert CAHILL was born in Thomastown, Kilkenny, Leinster, Ireland in 1860. As far as I can tell, his parents (my ggg-grandparents), Michael CAHILL and Anne HALE were born in Ireland probably between 1834-1838. Thomas married Margaret MILLETT, likely from Kilkenny as well. They were not married in Ireland; instead they were married in Illinois in 1887. It appears in the U.S. cencus data that they immigrated at different times, so I am not sure if they knew each other in Ireland or not. I also suspect that Margaret's parents, John MILLET and Mary RYAN were also born in Ireland. Following are some sources I plan to start with:

• The Master Book of Irish Surnames : Locations, Ethnic Origins, Variant Spellings & Sources by Michael C. O'Laughlin, 1993.
  
• Co. Kilkenny Ireland, Genealogy & Family History Notes by Michael C. O'Laughlin, 2002.
  
• Names of Irish Passengers to America by Michael C. O'Laughlin, 2002.
  
• The Birth Index of Ireland by Michael C. O'Laughlin, 2004.
  
• The Book of Irish Families, Great & Small by Michael C. O'Laughlin, 2002.

• The Great Hunger : Ireland 1845-1849 by Cecil Blanche Fitzgerald Woodham-Smith, 1991 (originally published in 1962).
  
• The Great Shame : And the Triumph of the Irish in the English-Speaking World by Thomas Keneally, 1999.
  
• To the Golden Door: The Story of the Irish in Ireland and America by George W. Potter, 1960.